City of Andersen Dedicates Upgraded Water Pollution Control Plant Filtration Facilities

ANDERSON, IN - Mayor Kris Ockomon cut the ribbon at a ceremony to officially dedicate the upgraded effluent filter facilities at the Gene Gustin Way Water Pollution Control Plant.  Members of the Board of Works and City Council, which approved this project to improve the city’s infrastructure, joined the Mayor and other guests, including representatives from the design firm Greeley and Hansen and the contractor M.K. Betts Engineering and Contracting, at the August 6th ceremony.

At the dedication, Mayor Ockomon remarked, “The vital infrastructure we all depend on every day is something we tend to take for granted.  I am so pleased to celebrate the completion of this renovation project, which will improve the safety, ease and reliability of filter operation and maintenance at our water pollution control plant and help keep the White River safe and clean.”  He added, “I’m also pleased to be here to publicly thank the people from the public works department who are responsible for keeping our treatment systems functioning and for maintaining our water quality standards.”

Rehabilitating the 30-year-old effluent filters was determined to be an effective alternative for meeting state compliance requirements to eliminate the plant’s effluent filter bypass at a much lower capital cost than building new filter facilities at the plant.

Upgrades made as part of the $3 million project, which was constructed without a rate increase, include: converting the water-only filter backwash system to a simultaneous air/water backwash; using a more effective coarse sand filter media; replacing hydraulic oil actuators with safer electric actuators; and automating the previously manual controls for the backwash system. Nara Manor, Plant Superintendent, said, “This was an important project for the city, because it helped to alleviate a bottleneck that was impacting the treatment process during heavy rain events. Even though Mother Nature has given the facility a lot of tests this spring with all of the rain, I’m happy to say that the upgraded filters have been able to handle it with no difficulty.”

In addition to providing greater operational flexibility and reducing maintenance, the rehabilitated effluent filter facilities will provide more dependable filtration under both dry and wet weather flow conditions to maintain effluent quality to meet NPDES permit limits. The upgraded facilities have also increased filtration capacity, which will allow the city to meet the future needs for its Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Long-Term Control Plan.

 Source: City of Anderson Press Release